We don’t know yet what Education Minister
Christopher Pyne
will manage to salvage from his deregulatory higher education reforms which will go to Parliament this week.

With Labor, the Greens and the Palmer United Party opposing the key features of his changes, some tough negotiating is a prospect.

But regardless of what happens in the Senate, Australia’s undergraduate students are increasingly treating higher education as a market.

One sign of this is increased willingness by students to choose the university which suits their needs, even if it’s not in their home town.

So much so that University of Melbourne vice-chancellor Glyn Davis wonders whether we are seeing “the breakdown of the long-standing Australian tradition that you go to the nearest university to where you grew up".

Certainly at Melbourne it looks as though the tradition is breaking down.

About 10 per cent of its undergraduate starting class is now coming from outside Victoria.

“It might not sound a lot, but traditionally that number of 1 per cent or 2 per cent. It’s now 10 and climbing every year," Davis says.

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These are not scholarship students attracted by a generous deal. They are normal HECS paying students who have decided it’s worth moving states to be at the University of Melbourne.

In other words, students are increasingly willing to look at the individual attributes of universities, and the graduate outcomes which they offer, and make their choice accordingly.

At the University of Melbourne the sharp rise in interstate students (up 75 per cent) has come since 2010 when the institution began its rapid ascent in the world’s most prestigious university quality index, the Academic Ranking of World Universities.

Earlier this month, Melbourne achieved another landmark in these rankings, breaking into the world’s top 50 research universities in 44th place, the highest spot ever held by an Australian institution. Possibly even more interstate students will now be wanting to study at Melbourne.

If Pyne manages to achieve deregulatory reforms which are effective (allowing universities to match their fee level to the type of educational experience they are offering) then the choices which all universities will be able to offer students will be greater.

Students’ behaviour is making it evident more choice is what they want. But if Pyne can’t push deregulation through the Senate, then students’ chances of getting more choice will be diminished.

It’s worth noting deregulation will not be a comfortable ride for the universities. More student choice will lead to more student scrutiny of job outcomes for graduates.

Figures from this year’s Good Universities Guide published last week in The Australian Financial Review, show widely differing job outcomes from different universities offering the same course. Graduates from some universities found jobs quickly. Graduates from others did not.

Universities need this scrutiny. And a more deregulated system, in which universities need to justify the fees they charge and stand by the quality of their graduates, is the best result for everybody.